Dead Rabbits

The Dead Rabbits were an Irish-American street gang that existed in the mid-19th century in the Five Points of New York City. They were a powerful gang, formed out of Catholic Irish immigrants that wanted to defend themselves from xenophobic Americans as well as wanting to have some form of employment. Their name comes from the Irish phrase for "fat cats".

History
The Dead Rabbits, also known as the Roach Guards or Black Birds, were a gang formed in the mid-19th century in the Five Points of New York City. Its unusual moniker comes from the Irish phrase "raibead sach ur", which means "fat cats" in New York language. The Dead Rabbits gang was a major gang in the city, rivaling William Cutting's Protestant "Natives" gang, which called the Irish "barbarians" and hated all non-WASPs. Priest Vallon was a respected gang leader of the Dead Rabbits, and under his rule he almost killed Cutting, having put out one eye and let him live in shame. Cutting later retaliated in 1846 during the final battle to decide who held sway over the Five Points, and the Natives defeated the Dead Rabbits, with Vallon being killed by Cutting himself.

From the 1850s to the 1860s, the Dead Rabbits went underground, with most of the surviving gang members joining the Natives. Vallon's son Amsterdam Vallon was spared by Cutting, and he grew up seeking revenge for his father's death. He infiltrated the Natives, but in 1862 he failed to assassinate Cutting, who wounded him and exiled him. Vallon came out of exile after a few months after Walter McGinn inspired him to fight for his father's cause, and he hung a dead rabbit on a fence. He killed the corrupt policeman and former Dead Rabbit Happy Jack Mulraney and secured McGinn's election as the new sheriff; however, Cutting responded by killing McGinn and Vallon's friend Johnny Sirocco. Vallon and the re-formed Dead Rabbits fought the Natives during the New York draft riots in July 1863, resulting in the deaths of many gangsters at the hands of each other and the US Army, but Cutting was killed by Vallon in the end, and the Natives were defeated. The Dead Rabbits were once more the predominant gang in the neighborhood, but in the next several decades, the Dead Rabbits, Natives, and their people were forgotten by the next generations as the city was rebuilt and expanded.